Friday, February 27, 2009

The Korea Times looks at a 2 volume history book titled "Behead the King'' written by historian Baek Ji-won, which examines Joseon dynasty-era Korea from the point of view of the lower classes and slaves. It also looks at the negative effects this forgotten history has had on modern-day Korea. It's certainly a catchier title than "A People's History of the Joseon Dynasty." It was nice to see this:

He also blasted the Korean fantasy of "minjok,'' based on the perception of a one-blooded nation, saying that Korean ethnic roots can be traced back to a mixture of various tribes such as Kitans, Malgal, Mongolian, Han and Yemaek.

It's not uncommon to see the sentences "Koreans are a homogenous race" and "Korea was invaded many times" in the same paragraph, with little thought given to the effect the latter must have had on the former.

The article ends with this:

The author commented that both historians and the public turn deaf ears on telling the truth of history. ``Historians conceal the disgraceful facts of history, while the public don't want to look into their shameful past. But by exploring the past, we can see the way of the future and not repeat the same mistakes,'' he said.

3 comments:

The contents of the book (see in Daum books) are not very encouraging in regards with the quality of the book or the ability of the author to place himself out of the nationalistic historiography that he'd apparently would like us to believe he's criticizing.

He also blasted the Korean fantasy of "minjok," based on the perception of a one-blooded nation, saying that Korean ethnic roots can be traced back to a mixture of various tribes such as Kitans, Malgal, Mongolian, Han and Yemaek.

And yet he has a chapter titled 우리 민족의 위대한 문화유산 훈민정음 창제, "The origins of the great legacy of our minjok, hunminjôngûm (hangul)." And the chapters like "The greatest of the great rulers of East Asia, Sejong" and "Clash of the country with world's strongest land forces, Japan, and the country with world's strongest marine forces, Joseon" (emphasis added) do not give much credibility to the author, either.

Looks like this book is in the line with works on Korean history that started to appear when the searchable electronic version of the colloquial translation of The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty became available.

(I'm telling myself not to judge the book by the fact that the author is does not appear to be associated with any academic institution or to have any academic backgroud which would be worth mentioning in the introduction to the book.)

I agree with the commenters on the Marmot that initially it looks like the author isn't presenting something new, but he's looking at the information with a different angle--one that I'm surprised no one has just come out and said.

I've been blasted in the past for claiming that Neo-Confucianism with its hyper-fundamentalist metaphysical emphasis was the dark rotting root of--okay, I'm being wordy. Re-reading Ki-baik Lee's "A New History of Korea," he hints at these claims but doesn't come right out and say it. But those are the glaring issues that gnaw at my brain whenever I read Korean history. The yangban with their precious pinky fingernails really fucked up the nation in their self-important laziness, and it led to the nasty society described by visitors at the end of the Joseon era and to the yangban selling their nation out to the Japanese.

Thanks for the information Antti. This what happens when I just post a link and don't do further research... We'd have to read it to see if it's sarcastic or not - it's a form of humor not so common in Korea, however.